"Nope."
"Fair enough."
My phone vibrates again and a notification from my date for the game pops across the top of my screen.
Maybe Kyle: Hey Cora, it's Kyle. Thanks for the invite to the game. Sounds like a good time.
"Is it him?" June raises her brows and leans back into the booth, stealing a quick glance toward the kitchen.
"Yeah."
"Well, what did he say? Are you going to text him back or do I need to do it?"
"You're out of control, seriously," I joke. "I'll message him when I get home."
June glares at me and it's enough to make me swipe open my screen and thumb a quick response.
Me: Hey, Kyle. Glad you're able to come. It'll be fun.
It's not the most exciting response, but I'm not that interested in the guy and if I'm being completely honest, I could think of a man or two that I'd rather go with instead. Both are completely off-limits, though.
"There, happy," I tell her. If looks could kill, I might already be dead.
"I am, thank you very much." She takes a peek over her shoulder where Simon stands across the room, his gaze flickering to her every point-two seconds—his level of obsession is endearing with a dash of creepy. "It's kind of a surprise though, so don't say anything yet."
"I won't," I confirm. It's not like Simon and I chat that often outside of when I see June anyway. He's friendly with me, and I mostly just give him a lot of shit, but we aren't friends like me and June. More like siblings who annoy each other. I love him, especially for her, and I'm glad he makes her happy. She deserves that.
"Cool." June reaches across and squeezes my hand. "Hey, you good?"
"Yeah," I lie. "I just wanted to see you is all. It's been a while."
"You can come over tonight if you want to. Magnus is cooking dinner so I'm sure it'll be something delicious and enough to feed a small army."
Any other night I would probably take her up on her invitation, but with all the things reeling around in my head, I'm not sure it's the best idea...I might cave and tell her what's going on, and the last thing I want to do is bring any more danger to her life than is already there.
"I'm supposed to have dinner with my dad," I lie again. The truth is that I've been avoiding my dad ever since what went down the other day. I'm repulsed by him. It's not that I don't understand why he did what he did, but it resulted in what it did, and it's going to take some time before I can forgive him for what he's done. What's worse is I haven't seen my mom lately, at all, and it worries me that Ricardo is making damn sure I don't back out of our little agreement. I could ask my dad where she's been, but I'm not ready to face him, not yet.
"Oh, that'll be nice." June pauses and then adds. "Hey, do you want Alec to drive you home real quick? He's probably bored sitting across the street waiting for my shift to end."
I shake my head. "No, it's okay, I could use the fresh air."
June's lip pulls into a frown. "It's really no big deal. He's on the clock anyway, wouldn't hurt to give him something to do."
"Maybe he's doing his homework." I slide out of the booth before she can push the matter any further. "Plus, I'm really good with walking."
"Ew, cardio." June rises to her feet too and nudges my shoulder. "Call me tomorrow and we'll talk details for this weekend, deal?"
"Yeah," I tell her. "I'll get ahold of you when I'm off work. I have that new unit I'm supposed to consult on tomorrow."
"Oh shit, that's exciting. I'm sure you'll blow them away with your design expertise."
"Order up," the line cook calls from the kitchen opening.
"Can't wait to hear all about it," June says before all but bolting away from the table to pick up the order and deliver it to the teenager sitting at the counter.
Making my way to the entrance of the diner, Magnus meets me near the door.
"Hey," he says in his typical suave tone. "You need a ride home?"
